Checklist for Submissions

Please make sure your manuscript conforms to the following guidelines, which summarize key points from the Information for Authors. This checklist is for your convenience; however, it is necessary for you to refer to the Information for Authors for details and complete instructions. Manuscripts that do not conform to these requirements will be returned to you for adjustment, without review.

Provide a cover letter.

Format: Prepare your manuscript as a Microsoft Word file, using a standard font sized at 12 points, with one-inch margins, and with all text double spaced. Pages should be numbered.

Length: Be sure your manuscript meets the relevant length requirements. Count all words in the manuscript Word file, excluding only the title page, the abstract, and the references.

Original research article: Structured abstract no more than 250 words, text no more than 9,000 words. No more than 8 tables and figures, no more than 150 references.

Review article: Structured abstract no more than 250 words, text no more than 15,000 words. No more than 15 tables or figures, no more than 200 references.

Case report: Structured abstract no more than 200 words, text no more than 1,000 (traditional) or 2,500 (extensive) words. No more than 2 tables or figures, no more than 10 references.

Guidelines and consensus article: Same as review article.

Research letter: No more than 1,000 words, no more than 1 table or figure, no more than 10 references.

Letter to the Editor: Text no more than 350 words, no more than 1 figure, no more than 10 references.

Order of parts: In the Word file, provide a title page, abstract, text, acknowledgments, references, tables, and legends for figures. Include tables in the Word file, but submit each figure as a separate file (see below).

Title page: Give the title, authors’ names as they should appear in the publication, authors’ full institutional affiliations, a short title, and contact information for the corresponding author. Include any relevant footnotes regarding previous publication, present affiliations, etc. State the word count for the main body of the text.

Acknowledgments; conflicts of interest: State any sources of financial support, and also state potential conflicts of interest for each author. If an author has no relevant conflicts or financial support, that too should be stated.

References: Citation of references should followthe general principles described in the National Medical Library’s Uniform Requirements for Manuscripts Submitted to Biomedical Journals; however, it is necessary for you to use specific formatting as described in the Information for Authors. Number the references in the order in which they are cited in the text; references cited only in tables or figure legends should be numbered as though cited at the point where the table or figure is first mentioned.

Tables: Prepare tables with the Word table editor only. Use no tabs or hard returns in the table. State all units explicitly and define all abbreviations.

Figures (including color images, line drawings, bar graphs, flow charts,schematic diagrams, etc.): Submit figures as digital files. The file format must be TIFF or EPS (although Microsoft Word format is acceptable for graphs only). Resolution should be 1,200 dpi for graphs, 600 dpi for grayscale photographs, and 300 dpi for color figures. Figures should be created with the final print size in mind, and the font style and size of the text should be consistent throughout the figures and, when possible, across all figures. The font style should be set in Arial, and the font size should be at least 8 points or higher. Each figure or illustration must be a separate file named to match its number in the text (e.g., fig1.eps). Place legends (captions) in the text file, not in the figure file; they must be double spaced, with pages numbered with the rest of the manuscript. Label the axes, state all units explicitly, and define all abbreviations.